Aren’t you scared?
To travel? Hell no!
Recently someone asked me why it is I choose to travel to destinations that are slightly on the ‘dangerous’ side. Not quite sure as to how to interpret that question. I’ve traveled to many places on my own, as a solo traveler, and it’s not the first time I’ve heard this.
Let me start by saying: people are different, ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ for that. I know that I, as a person, love a good thrill and I’m quite adventurous. I’ll never say no to racing a sports car, jumping of a plane or pull up a tent in a desert for a couple of nights. You name it. I’m all for it. If it’s an activity that I haven’t experienced yet, chances are it’s on my bucket list.
Same goes with traveling. I cannot stress enough that some people are nomads. The urge to explore new non-touristy places, meet new people, taste different local cuisines, experiencing other cultures and religions each time, is simply a necessity; a way of life. Hence, a country on its own will never be considered ‘dangerous’. There is beauty and knowledge to be found cross borders. Danger can lie in any corner of the world, troubled can be stirred much closer to our own homes.
Yet, most importantly let’s not forget that Allah ta’ala encourages us to travel in the Quran: to gain knowledge (31:31, 12:105, 22:46), to immigrate (4:97, 16:41), to learn from visiting new places (22:46, 31:31), for trade and commerce (17:66, 2:164, 62:10), to study, for recreation (10:22, 5:96, 30:46) and simply to explore (16:14, 35:12, 45:12).
That being said, I booked myself a flight last summer to Mar Mikhael for this November. I’d be working for two weeks as a digital nomad from within the vibrant Medawar district in the beating heart of Beirut.
From what I read, Mar Mikhael, is an artistic area filled with galleries, nice cosy cafés, shops and has an overall beautiful architectural scenery.
We no longer fly to Beirut
I booked a studio with a nice balcony for my cat and I, made sure it had 24/7 Wi-Fi so I’d be able to work during day and I took my Fridays off for Jummuha prayer. I took my cat to her vet to make sure she was all set for our flight: passport, necessary vaccinations, titter test and a final appointment for her health certificate. Everything was prepped and we were good to go.
Two weeks after I booked the flight I received an email stating: ‘your flight has been cancelled’. Mind you, this was summer. There had been no attack on the city just yet. I contacted the airline to see If I could reschedule the departure date, however they mentioned they were no longer flying out to Beirut, any time soon.
My flight got cancelled and I booked another flight with another airline for the same period. A couple of weeks later Lebanon and Beirut got bombed by their monstrous neighbour; repeatedly. So much so that every other day my phone kept buzzing with the news and the same question: ‘you’re not still going, are you?’.
It’s quite exhausting to get bothered by the fear of other people. Someone else’s anxiety on a situation, is not a reflection of how I feel towards it. My second flight didn’t get cancelled, nor did I cancel it for a long while. Until late last week.
Quite frankly, I don’t think our brothers and sisters in Lebanon would have expected to go through such a terrifying time on their own soil just as little as our Palestinian brothers and sisters are going through a genocide. Though I do wonder, how an airline manages to cancel all flights towards a country for an undetermined time prior any attack on the region has taken place. Makes you think doesn’t it?
I do believe it’s Allah ta’ala’s protection that I’m not flying out. Yet, I pray for all our brothers and sisters in Palestine and Lebanon, regardless of their religion, who currently are suffering monstrous attacks. Who are being burned alive, who are left without any action nor protection. In this time and age, one can simply not turn a blind eye on this genocide. An innocent human life is an innocent human life still. How many more for humanity to return to the people?